January 5, 2009-The sea is suffering, mostly at the hand of man, says John Grimond. Coral reefs, whose profusion of life and diversity of ecosystems make them the rainforests of the sea, have suffered most of all. Once home to prolific concentrations of big fish, they have attracted human hunters prepared to use any means, even dynamite, to kill their prey. Perhaps only 5% of coral reefs can now be considered pristine, a quarter have been lost and all are vulnerable to global warming.
HUMAN beings no longer thrive under the water from which their ancestors emerged, but their relationship with the sea remains close. Over half the world’s people live within 100 kilometres (62 miles) of the coast; a tenth are within 10km. On land at least, the sea delights the senses and excites the imagination. The sight and smell of the sea inspire courage and adventure, fear and romance. Though the waves may be rippling or mountainous, the waters angry or calm, the ocean itself is eternal. Its moods pass. Its tides keep to a rhythm. It is unchanging.
Or so it has long seemed. Appearances deceive, though. Large parts of the sea may indeed remain unchanged, but in others, especially in the surface and coastal waters where 90% of marine life is to be found, the impact of man’s activities is increasingly plain. This should hardly be a surprise. Man has changed the landscape and the atmosphere. It would be odd if the seas, which he has for centuries used for food, for transport, for dumping rubbish and, more recently, for recreation, had not also been affected.
The evidence abounds. The fish that once seemed an inexhaustible source of food are now almost everywhere in decline: 90% of large predatory fish (the big ones such as tuna, swordfish and sharks) have gone, according to some scientists. In estuaries and coastal waters, 85% of the large whales have disappeared, and nearly 60% of the small ones. Many of the smaller fish are also in decline. Indeed, most familiar sea creatures, from albatrosses to walruses, from seals to oysters, have suffered huge losses. (MORE) Go to Original
Dynegy pulls out of coal and sees immediate 19% increase in stock price
January 2, 2009-by Jim Polson, Bloomberg Press. Dynegy rose 38 cents to $2.38 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest gain since Oct. 10 and best performance among companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index. Dynegy fell 72 percent last year.
Dynegy Inc., the owner of power plants in 11 U.S. states, agreed to dissolve its development venture with LS Power Associates LP, partly because of the credit crisis. Dynegy’s shares soared 19 percent.
LS Power, based in New York, will receive $19 million for its stake in the venture, Houston-based Dynegy said today in a statement. Dynegy said it will record an unspecified loss on the venture, which planned to expand Dynegy plants and build new generators in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan and Nevada.
“The development of new generation is increasingly marked by barriers to entry including external credit and regulatory factors that make development much more uncertain,” Dynegy Chief Executive Officer Bruce Williamson said in the statement.
Dynegy rose 38 cents to $2.38 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest gain since Oct. 10 and best performance among companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index. Dynegy fell 72 percent last year. (MORE) Go to Original
TVA neighbor describes night of terror
December 30, 2008-A personal account of the TVA tragedy in an interview by Knoxville News Sentinel Photographer, J. Miles Cary. Text by Matt Wasson, from Ilovemoountains.org
On the morning of December 22, the earthen dam at the Kingston Power Plant containing coal fly ash failed catastrophically, unleashing a six-foot wall of toxic water and mud.
By the time the flood subsided, more than a billion gallons of coal sludge had damaged 15 homes -- three beyond repair -- before pouring into the nearby Emory and Clinch rivers.
In comparison, the Exxon Valdez spilled a "mere" 11 million gallons of crude oil. And the coal fly ash spill in Harriman is three times larger than the October, 2000 coal sludge spill in Martin County, Kentucky, which the EPA called "the largest environmental disaster east of the Mississippi."
Miraculously, there were no human injuries in last week's spill. Yet the Emory and Clinch rivers flow into the Tennessee River -- the primary water source for many Tennessee towns and cities, including Chattanooga. Coal fly ash contains heavy metals including lead, mercury, arsenic, chromium, and selenium. And though it will take years for the full affect of this environmental disaster to be known, iLoveMountains.org has teamed with the Upper Watauga Riverkeeper and the Waterkeeper Alliance to test the waters's of the Clinch and Emory Rivers for contaminants.
In short, the toxic coal ash spill at Harriman reveals what we've known all along -- there is no such thing as clean coal. Learn More
YouTube video reveals extent of the Tennessee Disaster
December 29, 2008-This YouTube video was posted by Sandra Diaz, National Field Coordinator for Appalachian Voices. This disaster, greater than the of the Exxon Valdez, puts coal into a whole new light if it gets adequately reported by the national news.
Of course, TVA is downplaying the problems created and even though they have doubled the estimate of the amount of sludge released when the dam broke, they are treating it as some sort of walk in the park.
Citizen activists have been on the site all week and have been reporting their experiences. One I would suggest is United Mountain Defense which is linked below.
IDEM stops giving fines, punishments to state agencies
December 28, 2008-By Gitte Laasbyin the Gary Post Tribune. "There's a creeping lack of accountability in Indiana, it sounds like, It signals an approach that says, 'You can ignore the law until you're caught. When you're caught, you'll be told to obey the law, but you'll not be punished for not obeying the law.'"
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has stopped issuing fines against other state agencies in Indiana that violate their environmental permits.
For instance, the Indiana Department of Transportation violated wastewater permits for rest stops across the state more than 550 times over four years. It discharged sludge and ammonia into streams, causing algae blooms and potential damage to aquatic life. But INDOT got no fines. It got off with a legal slap on the wrist.
Environmentalists are appalled, calling it a "creeping lack of accountability" and commitment to enforcing the law.
"Think of the precedent this sets. It says you can completely disregard violating" the law, said Valparaiso environmental attorney Kim Ferraro. "We're going to tell you to abide by the permit limits but if you don't, that's OK. It's consistent with the idea that enforcement is not important. We might as well not have environmental laws if there's no enforcement. They're environmental suggestions." (MORE) Go to Original
FOIA request yields snooty reply from the Guv
December 26, 20080-by rich jackson in the Post Tribune. Ed. note. Since his re-election to Governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels has taken on what seem to be a 'dictatorial" manner, especially when it comes to matters of the Indiana Environment. We are fortunate to have reporters like Ms. Laasby to count on for in depth reporting of such serious matters.
"I would also like to take this opportunity to note that your constant requests over the last several months have necessitated the expenditure of dozens -- if not hundreds -- of man hours by multiple state employees, who must scroll and review thousands of electronic documents that may or may not be covered by your fishing expeditions. Your latest request will trigger another such waste of time that is not in the public interest but is, nonetheless and unfortunately, within your power to inflict."
-- J. Sebastian Smelko, associate general counsel in Gov. Mitch Daniels' office.
That's a surprisingly snarky answer from an attorney for Gov. Mitch Daniels to Post-Tribune reporter Gitte Laasby.
If it's hard to understand, let me lay out my own hunt for the snark (with a shout out to Lewis Carroll).
In response to a previous open-records request, Laasby received multiple reports from officials at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to Daniels' office. The document tracked media reports of the agency, labeling them so the governor's office could understand what the public sees about the department that is supposed to oversee environmental issues in the state.
The media reports were marked as positive, negative or neutral.
Laasby wrote about the media reports to Daniels, but the governor's office refused to comment about them. Further, it refused any comment whatsoever, including a response to whether any other agency sent similar reports to his office.
Laasby then did what any good reporter would do. She filed an open-records request, seeking similar reports from other state agencies to Daniels' office. Because they refused to speak to Hoosiers via the Post-Tribune, she used the law. (MORE) Go to Original
Construction crews worked under lights Tuesday night to clear mud and fly ash from Swan Pond Road and the railroad tracks leading to the T.V.A. power plant in Kingston, Tenn.
Federal studies have long shown coal ash to contain significant quantities of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and selenium, which can cause cancer and neurological problems. But with no official word on the dangers of the sludge in Tennessee, displaced residents spent Christmas Eve worried about their health and their property, and wondering what to do.
The spill took place at the Kingston Fossil Plant, a Tennessee Valley Authority generating plant about 40 miles west of Knoxville on the banks of the Emory River, which feeds into the Clinch River, and then the Tennessee River just downstream.
Holly Schean, a waitress whose home, which she shared with her parents, was swept off its foundation when millions of cubic yards of ash breached a retaining wall early Monday morning, said, “They’re giving their apologies, which don’t mean very much.” (MORE) Go to Original
Eighteen Indiana Counties declared to have unhealthy air. Breathe at your own risk.
December 24, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. Indiana continued its race to the bottom of public health criteria when EPA declared 18 of 82 counties as having air quality to polluted to meet the health based 24 hour standard for fine particles.
Twenty percent of Indiana Counties do not meet the current health based standard for fine particles. that means that people living in those unfortunate places are subject to more heart attacks, lung disease, stroke, asthma and, yes, even cancer.
USEPA released their list of designated counties failing to meet the standard on Monday.
Indiana has 8.5% of US counties failing to meet the health standard but only has 2% of the US population.
Indiana's poor air quality is nothing new. For years, the "region" of northwest Indiana was the butt of jokes about poor air, mainly due to the dirty steel industry that located there in the early 20th Century.
In the 1960s and 70s, coal burning utilities found a safe haven to build their enormously polluting plants in locations along the Ohio River in both Indiana and Kentucky. As a result, southwest Indiana became the single largest concentration of coal fired capacity on the planet.
In turn,the Evansville area has become a major regional heart and cancer center, sporting numerous specialty hospitals that have proliferated in the last four decades.
Much of the demand for electricity in the region has been driven by three very large aluminum plants, two in western Kentucky and Alcoa in Newburgh, in Warrick County. All three had coal fired power plants built specifically to serve the huge energy requirements aluminum production entails.
Toxic emissions are also a byproduct of electric production and numerous regional plants release millions of pounds of chemicals each year that USEPA has listed as "toxic" meaning they are harmful to human health.
But the main cause of the current violations of the health based standards for fine particles is the enormous volume of sulfur dioxide that is released by burning high sulfur Indiana and Kentucky coal in the power plants.
One plant, Duke Energy's Gibson station alone released a whopping 154,235 tons of the fine particle forming gas in 2005 alone. But even when it burns what is called, low sulfur coal, another power plant in Rockport owned by AEP, released 67, 205 tons that same year.
The shear size of those plants, 3,350 and 2,600 megawatts respectively, makes them rank among the top SO2 polluters in the nation. In fact, the Gibson Station is the largest coal fired power plant in the United States.
There are no monitors near either of those plants so EPA only listed single townships where they are located as nonattainment of the standard, this time around.
Marion County, and all the counties surrounding it are listed as nonattainment as well. In that super urban area, numerous sources, including large volume vehicular traffic, is most to blame.
In the meantime, Indiana Governor, Mitch Daniels and his appointee running IDEM, Tom Easterly have decided to eliminate all state funding for local air pollution agencies. They call it cost cutting but refuse to acknowledge that the job the local agencies were doing, like issuing permits and maintaining EPA approved monitors, will have to be done by IDEM in the absence of local support, making their argument mysterious, at best.
There is no such thing as "clean coal!"
December 23, 2008-Reality Coalition offers new ad to combat 'clean coal" tripe-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. First it was American for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC). That grew into American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity which has spent most of 2008 and millions of dollars in a futile effort to convince people that clean coal is not a contradiction in terms.
Nearly everyone knows that there is no such thing as "clean" coal. At least those people who are not given campaign cash by the coal and utility industry or those who depend on coal for their livelihood.
It is really simple to understand that coal mining alone is filthy, destroying entire ecosystems as forests are cut and the earth scarred by huge machines.
But then coal is burned leaving a legacy of acid rain, fine particles, ozone formation which results in the death of humans and other species.
And, even when it is "gasified," the supposed cleaner way to consume the black carbon laden mineral, it still emits a stream of climate change causing carbon dioxide at as ratio of about two pounds of CO2 for every pound of coal consumed.
When it is used up, there remains gigantic piles of waste, sometimes a sludge, sometimes a solid but always a mix of foul chemical concoctions that find their way to ground water and streams which people, animals and vegetation need simply to survive.
Sometimes bad things happen to those waste products, like the waste "ash pond" that collapsed yesterday in Roane County, TN, burying or flooding at least a dozen nearby homes.
To answer the ridiculous claims of "killer coal" and it minions, a coalition of several big enviro groups, have set out to set the record straight with an advertising campaign of their own. Calling themselves, ThisisReality.org.
In recent days, the airwaves have been loaded with a commercial depicting a desert scene that is supposed to be a clean coal plant. While that commercial is sarcastic on the surface and requires the viewer to "get it" that clean coal does not exist, seeing it enough will surely persuade most viewers.
Now, the coalition has produced a new ad, shown above as a YouTube movie. It is called Smudge because the coal executive depicted smudges his nose when trying to convince viewers that coal even smells good.
As an organization that has long fought new coal plants and demanded that mining be done in more responsible ways, Valley Watch is kind of disappointed that so much money is being spent on advertising that is sarcastic or cute.
Instead, we would prefer a more direct approach that shows the real Reality of strip mining and its effects on the earth. Or, perhaps, a kid who is profoundly mentally retarded because his mother consumed fish that were contaminated with mercury emitted from a nearby coal plant.
Perhaps those harder hitting commercials will come later, Who knows? But in the meantime, we all must do everything we can to reduce or eliminate coal from our energy mix. Clean coal does not exist and never will. It harms our health. It harms our planet and yes, it stinks.
All that talk about carbon capture and sequestration must be understood in context. After all, coal is God's and nature's method of capturing and storing carbon and it is arrogant for any of us to think we can improve upon that.
Impostor disrupts federal oil and gas lease bidding
December 22, 2008-by Patty Henetz in the Salt Lake City Tribune. The auction had been under way for a couple of hours when energy company representatives became suspicious of a man wearing an old red down parka after he won bids on more than 10 parcels numbered consecutively, all around Arches and Canyonlands.
He didn't pour sugar into a bulldozer's gas tank. He didn't spike a tree or set a billboard on fire. But wielding only a bidder's paddle, a University of Utah student just as surely monkey-wrenched a federal oil- and gas-lease sale Friday, ensuring that thousands of acres near two southern Utah national parks won't be opened to drilling anytime soon.
Tim DeChristopher, 27, faces possible federal charges after winning bids totaling about $1.8 million on more than 10 lease parcels that he admits he has neither the intention nor the money to buy -- and he's not sorry.
"I decided I could be much more effective by an act of civil disobedience," he said during an impromptu streetside news conference during an afternoon blizzard. "There comes a time to take a stand."
The Sugar House resident -- questioned and released after disrupting a U.S. Bureau of Land Management lease auction of 149,000 acres of public land in scenic southern and eastern Utah -- said he came to the BLM's state office in Salt Lake City to join about 200 other activists in a peaceful protest outside the building Friday morning. But then he registered with the BLM as representing himself and went to the auction room.
There, he thought about the times he has marched, fired off letters to his congressmen, signed petitions and supported environmental organizations -- all to no avail.
"What the environmental movement has been doing for the past 20 years hasn't worked," DeChristopher said. "It's time for a conflict. There's a lot at stake." (MORE) Go to Original
Madison's Clifty Creek scrubber project shuttered for at least 18 months
December 18, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. The nefarious Clifty Creek power plant, located on the western edge of Madison, Indiana announced today it was suspending construction on its $460 million scrubber project.
In a story that has already lasted more than a half a century, the clean up of the Clifty Creek power plant in Madison, IN has come to a screeching halt.
In operation since, 1955, the 1,302 megawatt plant has gone through a series of metamorphosis over the past thirty years without ever being forced to clean up its massive sulfur dioxide emissions.
In the past, the plant, owned by a consortium of midwest utilities and operating under the name Indiana Kentucky Electric Company (IKEC) (the Indiana subsidiary of the Ohio Valley Electric Company) (OVEC) but run by AEP, solely for the purpose of supplying power to the Department of Energy's uranium enrichment facility at Portsmouth, Ohio. In the last decade, the plant has become one of the dirtiest "merchant" plants in the US, selling its power to the highest bidder since the enrichment facility was closed in the latter part of the 1990s.
In 2005, the most recent data provided by the EPA's eGRID data base says Clifty emitted 74,658 tons of SO2, the chemical that causes both acid rain and the majority of fine particle pollution in the Ohio Valley.
The plant was required to install scrubbers as a result of the implementation of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) earlier this decade. But that rule was vacated by the US District Court in Washington on July 11, this year due to numerous "flaws" in how it was implemented.
That was just over two years after IKEC announced the $460 million project. Construction started on the scrubbers in the third quarter of that year.
IKEC says construction will shut down in an "organized manner" the first quarter of 2009 for a minimum of eighteen months. They claim the clean up is 35% complete at the moment.
IKEC claims the stoppage is due to "current economic conditions, including uncertainty in capital markets."
The scrubbers would have reduced SO2 emissions by 98% but now residents of the Ohio Valley will be forced to breathe huge amounts of fine particle pollution formed by the emission of so much SO2.
Construction will not shut down on Clifty's "sister" plant, Kyger Creek in Southeast Ohio, near Cheshire. That plant of similar age also served the needs of the Portsmouth facility before becoming a merchant plant. Company officials say Kyger Creek's scrubbers are nearly 80% complete and would be finished on the current timetable.
It is not known whether AEP, the primary partner in OVEC will alter their plans to build new power plants in Southeast Ohio and West Virginia.
Clifty Creek has been a target for closure by a coalition of environmental and consumer groups in Indiana, including Valley Watch for most of this decade.
Valley Watch and colleagues win huge victory over Peabody Energy
December 16, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. Valley Watch, today, won a huge victory for our health and environment as Peabody Energy told the media it was withdrawing its "construction" permit for a huge coal fired power plant in Muhlenberg County, KY.
Today's news that Peabody and Conoco Phillips is seeking to build a coal to gas facility in Muhlenberg County, KY comes with some extremely good news as well. I was just informed by a reporter that part of the package for the CTG plant is the Peabody withdrawal of their air permit that was granted in 2002 by the Kentucky Division of Air Quality.
For nearly eight years, Valley Watch has fought with the Cumberland Chapter and National Sierra Club to put the Thoroughbred Generating Station to rest. Apparently, that was done today when Peabody filed an application to build a coal to syngas plant on the same site.
When asked by a reporter my thoughts, I replied that I was thrilled to finally end the pathetic saga of Thoroughbred and assured him that Peabody and anyone else would have their hands full of even greater opposition to their newest proposal based in the greed that coal companies seem to share.
I also told him that I did not think that America was desperate enough for new gas to go down the dirtiest possible path to securing a dubious supply.
Apparently Peabody failed to learn the lesson that the Rockport gasification plant taught which was that unless it is nearly guaranteed that natural gas would sell long term for around $10 or more/mmbtu, that coal to gas makes little economic sense. And in the Conference in Covington, KY on Dec, 6, we were told by experts that a CCS equipped plant had a parasitic energy demand of 30-40% when all is accounted for.
I have said this before and I am likely to say it again-Perseverance is the key to every successful environmental battle. We proved it this time and we will prove it the next time as well.
IDEM eliminates Enforcement Office
December 14, 2008- By Gitte Laasby in the Post Tribune. Recently, IDEM announced it was dropping its funding for all the local environmental agencies of the state. Now, they are eliminating the specialized Office of Enforcement, which is important to have, even if it is not effectively administered.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is dissolving its Office of Enforcement -- the office that responds to environmental violations, assures polluters comply with their permits, and deters violations.
"The Office of Enforcement as a separate entity will no longer exist," IDEM?spokeswoman Amber Finkelstein confirmed to the Post-Tribune.
IDEM is also modifying its compliance and enforcement policy, narrowing the definitions of what constitutes the most serious environmental violations to say they must cause actual harm to human health or threaten the environment. The new policy also gives managers more discretion over when companies will face prosecution and penalties.
The closure is already taking place. The policy has not yet gone through the official process.
Environmentalists are dumbfounded. They say the changes undermine IDEM's purpose and endangers human health and the environment because the agency will be reacting to complaints by the public after damage is done rather than being proactive and precautionary.
Finkelstein said IDEM is eliminating the Office of Enforcement to improve customer service and allow better collaboration between employees. She said no staff cuts were made as a result. (MORE) Go to Original
Alcoa charged with Criminal Negligence in Australia
December 14, 2008-by Narelle Towie, Perth Sunday Times. Alcoa, which operates a huge polluting facility in Newburgh, IN claims environmental high ground in their well published corporate policy but their actions often contrast greatly from that policy. In 2006 in Newburgh, Alcoa emitted more than 5, 579,000 pounds of toxic chemicals.
Ed. Note: Alcoa's poilicy states: It is Alcoa’s policy to operate worldwide in a safe, responsible manner that respects the environment and the health of our employees, our customers, and the communities where we operate. We will not compromise environmental, health, or safety values for profit or production. ---- After two years of investigation, the Department of Environment and Conservation has accused Alcoa of blanketing areas surrounding its Wagerup refinery, 125km south of Perth, with pollution.
The DEC alleges red dust blew from Alcoa's waste stockpiles, which are loaded with highly toxic materials including radioactive thorium and heavy metals on May 14, 2006.
The case is expected to be heard in Mandurah Magistrates Court on January 23.
It is the second time the world's largest alumina producer has been accused of allowing the red dust from its Wagerup residue disposal areas to cause pollution.
In December 2004 Alcoa pleaded guilty and was fined $60,000.
Because the dust-pollution problem is known to exist, but Alcoa allegedly failed to fix it, the DEC has accused the company of criminal negligence.
A DEC statement said: "DEC will allege that the defendant was negligent in failing to prevent the emission when it had knowledge that the residue disposal areas had a propensity to emit dust.'' (MORE)
And the the governor's office refuses to comment about why it receives the reports.
The Post-Tribune obtained the e-mail updates under a public information request.
Out of 12 news items labeled negative in the updates, seven were articles or opinion pieces from the Post-Tribune relating to BP's expansion and IDEM's handling of permits.
The articles labeled negative were about appeals of BP's air permit; IDEM's refusing to release public records; residents being worried about manure gas from a farm; and IDEM's frequent communication with Duke Energy around the time of an air permit hearing for the company's new Edwardsport plant.
The Post-Tribune asked the governor's office whether it gets similar updates from other state departments; whether the updates were sent at the request of the governor's office; whether the governor's office requested news articles to be categorized; and what the purpose of the reports is.
The governor's office refused to respond to any of the questions. (MORE) Go to Original
January 5, 2009-The sea is suffering, mostly at the hand of man, says John Grimond. Coral reefs, whose profusion of life and diversity of ecosystems make them the rainforests of the sea, have suffered most of all. Once home to prolific concentrations of big fish, they have attracted human hunters prepared to use any means, even dynamite, to kill their prey. Perhaps only 5% of coral reefs can now be considered pristine, a quarter have been lost and all are vulnerable to global warming.
January 2, 2009-by Jim Polson, Bloomberg Press. Dynegy rose 38 cents to $2.38 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest gain since Oct. 10 and best performance among companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index. Dynegy fell 72 percent last year.
December 29, 2008-This YouTube video was posted by Sandra Diaz, National Field Coordinator for Appalachian Voices. This disaster, greater than the of the Exxon Valdez, puts coal into a whole new light if it gets adequately reported by the national news.
December 28, 2008-By Gitte Laasbyin the Gary Post Tribune. "There's a creeping lack of accountability in Indiana, it sounds like, It signals an approach that says, 'You can ignore the law until you're caught. When you're caught, you'll be told to obey the law, but you'll not be punished for not obeying the law.'"
December 26, 20080-by rich jackson in the Post Tribune. Ed. note. Since his re-election to Governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels has taken on what seem to be a 'dictatorial" manner, especially when it comes to matters of the Indiana Environment. We are fortunate to have reporters like Ms. Laasby to count on for in depth reporting of such serious matters.
December 25, 2008-by Shaila Dewan in the New York Times. Photo © 2008 John Blair shows an ash pond similar to the one that burst in east Tennessee, at the A B Brown coal plant near Evansville, IN. Nearly all major coal burning plants have ponds like these. This one sits next to the Ohio River.
December 24, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. Indiana continued its race to the bottom of public health criteria when EPA declared 18 of 82 counties as having air quality to polluted to meet the health based 24 hour standard for fine particles.
December 23, 2008-Reality Coalition offers new ad to combat 'clean coal" tripe-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. First it was American for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC). That grew into American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity which has spent most of 2008 and millions of dollars in a futile effort to convince people that clean coal is not a contradiction in terms.
December 22, 2008-by Patty Henetz in the Salt Lake City Tribune. The auction had been under way for a couple of hours when energy company representatives became suspicious of a man wearing an old red down parka after he won bids on more than 10 parcels numbered consecutively, all around Arches and Canyonlands.
December 18, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. The nefarious Clifty Creek power plant, located on the western edge of Madison, Indiana announced today it was suspending construction on its $460 million scrubber project.
December 16, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. Valley Watch, today, won a huge victory for our health and environment as Peabody Energy told the media it was withdrawing its "construction" permit for a huge coal fired power plant in Muhlenberg County, KY.
December 14, 2008- By Gitte Laasby in the Post Tribune. Recently, IDEM announced it was dropping its funding for all the local environmental agencies of the state. Now, they are eliminating the specialized Office of Enforcement, which is important to have, even if it is not effectively administered. 
December 14, 2008-by Narelle Towie, Perth Sunday Times. Alcoa, which operates a huge polluting facility in Newburgh, IN claims environmental high ground in their well published corporate policy but their actions often contrast greatly from that policy. In 2006 in Newburgh, Alcoa emitted more than 5, 579,000 pounds of toxic chemicals.
December 8, 2008-by Gitte Laasby in the Gary Post Tribune. ed. Note:IDEM has becone an arm of governor Mitch Daniels bizarre effort to use Indiana's already severely polluted environment as an economic calling card. Illustration of Mitch Daniels © 2008 John Blair
